- The Ghana Football Association is set to hold talks with Ghanaian youngster Jesurun Rak-Sakyi over nationality switch
- The 19-year-old made his Premier League debut for Crystal Palace in the defeat to Chelsea on the opening day of the 2021-22 season
- Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, who can operate out on the wings as well as through the middle as a striker, joined Crystal Palace from Chelsea’s academy in 2019
English-born Ghanaian teen sensation Jerusan Rak-Sakyi who plays club football for Crystal Palace, will soon be contacted by the West African giants Football Association to consider playing for the Black Stars in future Sportsworldghana.com can report exclusively.
With Nigeria making good effort to snatch most of their European-born talents, the Ghana FA has deployed a similar plan to get Ghanaian young talents in Europe to play for the West African side.
Despite representing England at the U-20 level, the GFA is working around the clock to get the promising attacker to feature for the Black Stars in future.
Rak-Sakyi’s got moves ⚡#CPFC | https://t.co/utMcYSDkhb pic.twitter.com/njzJq4VSSg
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) April 13, 2021
Rak-Sakyi, 19 who made his first senior appearance against Chelsea las season, has impressed Vieira and his staff this season, and joined the senior training session once again last week.
The speedy winger is one of the club’s most treasured young talents and after making his debut Vieira told reporters he was hoping to help Rak-Sakyi get the most out of his talent.
“He’s a kid who spent pre-season with us and I was really pleased with what he’s been doing on the field,” said the Frenchman. “He’s a really lovely kid and when he came on at 3-0 I just wanted him to get on the ball.
“He’s a good dribbler, can score goals as well so I wanted him to be a bit higher on the field, but he spent most of the time behind the ball defending. He’s a young, talented player and we have to work with him to try to help him.”
Following his Premier League debut, Rak-Sakyi made the bench for subsequent games against Brentford, Watford and West Ham before dropping back into Paddy McCarthy’s Under-23s side.
Playing predominantly on the left-wing, the 19-year-old has 12 goals and three assists in just 17 Premier League 2 matches this season, also finding the back of the net on his England Under-20 debut against Romania in September last year.
Jake O’Brien (Swindon), Rob Street (Newport) and Luke Dreher (Bromley) were among those sent out down the football pyramid for minutes, though Rak-Sakyi was still at Crystal Palace by 11pm on deadline day.
“He didn’t go on loan so he will be training with the first team until the end of the season,” Vieira said ahead of Palace’s FA Cup tie against Hartlepool in early February.
“We believe that he is a talent but at the same time we need to help him develop that talent and that will take time.
“Training every day with the players that we have in our football club will improve him and this is important for him to spend time with the first team.”
